Kenyan policeman shoots dead six people including wife

Kenyan police are describing the incident as "sad"

A police officer in Kenya shot dead his wife and five other people with an AK-47 in the early hours of Tuesday morning, officials have said.

A neighbour heard "a loud bang" from the officer's home at 01:00 local time, according to a police report.

The policeman then went on what officials are calling a "shooting spree" in Kabete, near the capital, Nairobi, killing five others.

The officer later took his own life, a police statement said.

The motive behind the killings is unclear, but police said the couple had been feuding, according to the AFP news agency.

"We are told that the couple had issues and were quarrelling before," police chief Francis Wahome told AFP.

"Until now, we never had any concerns about the officer's behaviour. He had been going for duty properly, and had never been involved in an incident like this," Mr Wahome told the Reuters news agency.

This incident is not the first time a Kenyan police officer is thought to have been involved in a similar incident.

In July a female officer grabbed national headlines after allegedly killing two men, including a colleague in a span of 24 hours.

Caroline Kangogo was later found dead.

In 2020, the police launched a programme to help officers struggling with trauma.

The police chief Hilary Mutyambai has previously warned that the "stress and trauma" officers undergo can leave them with "psychological and emotional scars that require healing".

The policeman behind Tuesday's incident, who the authorities have identified as Police Constable Benson Imbasi, "started shooting at innocent members of the public frenziedly" after killing his own wife, the police report said.

One witness described the moment the shooting started to Reuters.

"He came out with an AK-47, cocked it and started firing at us where we were with the boda boda [motorcycle] riders."

Two motorcycle taxi drivers were among the victims. Two other people were injured and are receiving hospital treatment.

Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i commented on the incident at an event to commemorate police and prison officers who have died in the line of duty.

The government was saddened by events in Kabete, he said, but urged people not to politicise the matter.

Mr Matiang'i said police officers can be susceptible to mental health challenges like all members of the public.

The government alongside the prison service has improved the counselling and medical assistance offered to officers struggling with mental wellbeing, he added.

There have been protests and disturbances in and around the Kabete area after the shooting incident, local media report.

A video from The Star news site shows people on the streets with tyres set alight.

Meanwhile another video tweeted by The Nation news site appears to show police pushing back a group of young people who wanted to break into Kabete police station.

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